Textured Beauty: Alisha

Hair’s Name: Sybil (because of all her different personalities a.k.a. “textures”)

Tell us about yourself: I am a Social Worker. I love talking about natural hair and sharing what works for me. I also like wine…a lot! LOL! I try to visit a local winery each month and feature them on my blog as well.How long have you been natural? Why did you go natural? I’ve been natural for exactly 1 year! Woohoo! I decided to go natural, because of my 2 daughters. My oldest daughter (age 10) was experiencing a lot of breakage because she always wanted her hair straight and I couldn’t very well tell her to love her hair when mine was bone straight. I had been natural before and loved wearing short cuts so it’s wasn’t major for me to BC, but I knew it would be for her. She is loving her curls now more than ever and I’m happy that her hair is healthier as well.

What is your hair type and texture? I guess I’m a mixture of 4a-4c

What products and techniques work best for your hair type/texture? My favorite go-to product is Coco Curls Styling Cream. That is like crack to Sybil! I use it for my twist out. It keeps my hair moisturized and makes my curls pop! [pullquote_right]For me, what worked best was finding other naturals with a texture similar to mine.[/pullquote_right]

What is your hair regimen and how does it fit into your busy schedule?I stay away from traditional shampoos and typically wash my hair once a month with Terressential Mud Wash. Once a week I co-wash using Tresemme conditioner. I’ve been slacking on deep conditioning and would love to do more, but my hair seems happy either way. For styling my hair, I use Giovanni Direct Leave-in, followed by All Things O’Naturals Natty Moist, and for twist outs I use Coco Curls. If I’m doing a wash and go, I leave out the Coco Curls and use Hair Rules Kinky Curling Cream, wet my hair a bit again and shake like crazy.

Any additional advice? Take the time to learn your hair. If you’ve recently “big chopped”, moisturizing will be the best thing for your hair. And sometimes it takes a little trial and error. But don’t feel that you have to use the most expensive products and don’t believe all the hype of products you see on You Tube. For me, what worked best was finding other naturals with a texture similar to mine. I will never have silky curls like Chili from TLC so I’m not going to stress myself trying to get my hair like hers. And be patient. I am not all about the hype of waist length hair… I want healthy hair.

Latoya is an academic advisor by day, natural hair enthusiast//writer by night, and wife and mom 24/7. Her last relaxer was in April 2010 and she big chopped in October 2010. Join her as she shares tips and techniques for your natural hair.

Alisha! Love it! Congrats on your feature. Also, I learned that we have a few things in common. One being that my 4 yr-old daughter used to ask to get her natural hair straightened to be like mommy’s relaxer but now that I’m rockin’ natural coils, she doesn’t want her hair “flat” anymore. It’s funny how your kids make you analyze your own habits/motives, isn’t it? Oh, also you and I both love wine. But wine is so easy to love so no big shocker there, right? Lol.

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BlackHairMedia was started out of a deep love for Black Hair and the need for sharing information about Black hair and beauty and issues related to Black women. We believe Black women should have an online social environment in which to discuss and share ideas about the best practices for hair, beauty, and skin care, as well as utilize the site as a resource for finding information on these topics.